My first impression of my 5500 watt electric system is very positive. It's must faster than I was expecting, 7 gallons went from 60 degrees to boiling in a little over 25 minutes without a lid. And part of that time was at 60% because I mucked up the manual setting. Also, it was eerily quiet, and there was no angst about carbon monoxide poisoning either.

Two quick questions. First, a manual boil is a weird experience the first time you see it. It's not a steady boil like propane, it pulsates to the rhythm of the PID. But I found that I got a decent boil at about 60% power using water. Will wort be approximately the same setting? Second, the alarm on my 2352 went off as expected, but my external light/buzzer never went off. This is the Auberins 120v light/buzzer. I connected the alarm wires to post 1 & 13 as the instructions said. Is there a polarity on those? Or is there something else I may have screwed up?

I'll post some photos tomorrow.

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Brewing beer is a fun and rewarding hobby. When you do good, you get beer. When you do bad, you get beer.
It's a lot like recreation league softball.

Second, the alarm on my 2352 went off as expected, but my external light/buzzer never went off. This is the Auberins 120v light/buzzer. I connected the alarm wires to post 1 & 13 as the instructions said. Is there a polarity on those? Or is there something else I may have screwed up?

I'll post some photos tomorrow.

This is where I have a bit of a problem with Auber's manual. Their diagrams are horrible, and not well written. You need to have a 120 source going to wire 13. When it goes into alarm the contact 1 closes on to 13 letting power flow through to your alarm. It isn't self supplied.

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Denny Conn - “The best beer possible with the least effort possible while having the most fun possible!”

First, a manual boil is a weird experience the first time you see it. It's not a steady boil like propane, it pulsates to the rhythm of the PID. But I found that I got a decent boil at about 60% power using water. Will wort be approximately the same setting?

Yes, the wort will boil in the same manner. It sounds like your PID is set for a long time period if you can visibly see the boil start and stop at a 60% cycle level.

You might want to change the cycle time to 2 seconds. This will make the pulsing go away.
Take a look at the PID manual SYL-2352. Here is the section in the manual for setting that up:

Quote:

4.5.3. Manual mode
Manual mode allows the user to control the output as a percentage of the
total heater power. It is like a dial on a stove. The output is independent of the
temperature sensor reading. One application example is controlling the
strength of boiling during beer brewing. You can use the manual mode to
control the boiling so that it will not boil over to make a mess. The manual
mode can be switched from PID mode but not from On/off mode. This
controller offers a “bumpless” switch from the PID to manual mode. If the
controller outputs 75% of power at PID mode, the controller will stay at 75%
when it is switched to the manual mode, until it is adjusted manually. See
Figure 3 for how to switch the display mode. The Manual control is initially
disabled (A/M=2). To activate the manual control, set A/M=0 or 1.
4.6 Cycle time “t”
It is the time period (in seconds) that the controller uses to calculate its
output. e.g. When t=2, if the controller decides output should be 10%, the
heater will be on 0.2 second and off 1.8 seconds for every 2 seconds. Smaller
t values result in more precision control. For SSR output, t is set at the
minimum (2 seconds). For relay or contactor output, it should be set longer to
prevent contacts from wearing out too soon. Normally it is set to 20~ 4 0
seconds.

This is where I have a bit of a problem with Auber's manual. Their diagrams are horrible, and not well written. You need to have a 120 source going to wire 13. When it goes into alarm the contact 1 closes on to 13 letting power flow through to your alarm. It isn't self supplied.

That got my external alarm to work, thanks! Now I have to rig up a switch to shut that thing off. It is annoying as heck.

__________________

Brewing beer is a fun and rewarding hobby. When you do good, you get beer. When you do bad, you get beer.
It's a lot like recreation league softball.

Yes, the wort will boil in the same manner. It sounds like your PID is set for a long time period if you can visibly see the boil start and stop at a 60% cycle level.

You might want to change the cycle time to 2 seconds. This will make the pulsing go away.
Take a look at the PID manual SYL-2352. Here is the section in the manual for setting that up:

I hope this helps.

Maxking answered you second question.

P-J

It was already set at 2 which is the minimum setting for an SSR. But I bumped my power up to 80% and it is more of a traditional style boil now. It's a lot more of an aggressive boil than I normally do, so I am going to look into a larger brew kettle.

__________________

Brewing beer is a fun and rewarding hobby. When you do good, you get beer. When you do bad, you get beer.
It's a lot like recreation league softball.